Calm before the storm
by Rottenwraith
Summary: In the end, there are no absolute ends, only new beginnings. Finale-fic Korrasami
1. Early hours

**Calm before the storm - Early hours**

**Awaiting a storm can be terrifying and make you think on things left undone or unsaid.  
**

* * *

"Couldn't sleep either?" The voice called to Korra, breaking her out of her deep thoughts as she looked out over the quiet city. The Avatar turned to see her closest friend in the world, Asami Sato, wearing her usual sleepwear; a robe over a nightdress, a contrast to Korra's sleeveless shirt and pyjama trousers.

"Hey Asami, no, couldn't sleep." Korra responded before turning back to the view from the balcony. "Pretty eerie isn't it?" The Avatar commented with a chuckle, mentioning Republic City's current state.

"I know." Asami answered her friend's semi-rhetorical question as she came up to join her at her side. "It's usually so busy and bustling, at least this means we know the evacuation's going well." Korra was at least glad at that, though she was still apprehensive about the coming battle.

"Good point." Korra agreed, glad that they'd be able to avoid civilian casualties. "Thanks for letting me stay here." Air temple Island had gotten pretty hectic with setting up everything for the president's command post.

"No problem, the mansion's pretty crowded with Mako and Bolin's family there." Asami's new penthouse she'd bought had more than enough room for the two of them and a breathtaking view.

"I hope we can win this." The Avatar also hoped that there would be a city left after it was all said and done.

"We always do, don't we." Whilst Asami's words were more or less true, the 'less' part drew out a rather cynical and bitter reply.

"I hope we can win this without anyone being put out of action for a couple years." Korra immediately regretted her words, they made her feel selfish and self-centred; was her own injury and recovery really worse than what others must have suffered at the hands of the villains.

"Right, yeah, sorry." Asami's awkwardness made her friend sigh with guilt.

"I shouldn't have said that." Korra conceded not wanting to make her best friend feel bad

"I shouldn't have said what I did."

"No it's okay." Korra lightly slapped her face and sucked in a deep breath, "I need to stop feeling sorry for myself." She told herself before turning to Asami with a smile on her face.

"Let's look on the upside, we already took out the train tracks, so no spirit ray to worry about." Asami noted with a shrug.

"Yeah, still..." Korra acknowledged her friend's point before trailing off, internally debating something, unsure of what to say.

"Korra, anything you want to talk about." The coming war had every member of Team Avatar on edge, and had brought worries of thing left unsaid to Korra's mind.

"A week and a half to go, then we could all die." The cold truth of that statement was unnerving to Korra, the thought of losing her friends was not pleasant, but it was pertinent.

"Korra, don't think like-" Korra cut off Asami, needing to get this out.

"There's something I need to say." Swallowing to prepare herself, completely unsure of what to expect from her friend when she was done. "Asami, we're good friends and you've always been good and honest to me, helping me however you can."

"I care about you." Asami responded with a shrug, her tone stating the seemingly obviousness of her words. Korra was glad to hear that and felt rather emboldened by it.

"And I care about you, which is why I want you to know..." Korra swallowed, the horrifying images conjured in her mind from what she was about to say. "If both or one of us doesn't make it through this..." The horror of the possibility of standing over Asami's body if she- "You're amazing and I-"

"Korra." Asami interjected, leaning over and kissing the shorter girl. Korra could barely think from the surprise, leaning in just as Asami pulled away, it had only lasted for a few moments despite the feeling of an eternity passing. Korra's eyes fluttered for a moment, her mind trying to process what just happened.

"You mean you too-" Asami hushed Korra with a finger her lips.

"Tell me after we win this." Korra wanted to inject, to say that Asami was being overconfident, that they had to face the reality of the situation; then Asami said something that put her dear Korra at ease. "We will both make it through this." The look in her eyes, the tone of her voice, the complete certainty of survival.

"Okay." Korra agreed with a smile, feeling infected with her dear Asami's confidence. "We could probably get this place to ourselves again afterward, go into detail." Korra mentioned with a smirk and an aside glance to the taller girl, who returned the smirk in kind.

"I look forward to it."


	2. No endings

**Calm before the storm - No Endings**

**In truth, there is no such thing as an absolute end.  
**

"Please, be alive... Be alive..." Asami quietly begged to the universe in terror, the pain of losing her father still fresh upon her soul. As she and the others descended into the huge crater, desperately searching for the missing Avatar, they began to call out for her, their enemies were also searching for their leader, who had brought all this destruction.

The desperation pulsing through Asami's heart and soul had prevented her from taking in the beauty of the sight in front of her, for a moment. The size of it was awe inspiring, the light extending into the sky and the two streams twisting within it all the way up as well. The young woman couldn't help but wonder if the new spirit portal was a side effect of that weapon being used when completely surrounded by that which fueled it, or if Korra had made this thing of breathtaking beauty, quite possibly at the cost of her own-

"No." Asami quickly hissed to herself through gritted teeth, she refused to even acknowledge that possibility, she refused to end up regretting her words to Korra that they'd talk after winning; resolving to search with renewed vigour, determined to find her dear Korra.

"The spirits have returned." Asami was as surprised as Tenzin seemed to be when the spirits returned, pouring out of the new portal; right in advance of-

"And so has Korra!" Asami would have been screaming in joy had the creeping terror of losing her dear Korra hadn't left a breathless relief behind in its absence upon the Avatar's return. Of course she returned with her foe, who called off her allies, admitted that she owed Korra her life and submitted to her defeat. Placing a hand of the returned Avatar's shoulder, she and Asami shared a brief smile together before the rest of their friends joined in of the group hug, for this victory belonged to them all.

They had won.

* * *

The new view from Air Temple island was amazing, anyone would agree, especially the two young women taking it in from the plaza steps, with what each would consider the finest possible company; each other. Both were grateful for a little time alone together as well as other things, Asami was glad to have seen a southern water tribe wedding and Korra was glad that the threat of the Earth Empire was over.

"I don't think I ever really apologised." The Avatar's voice was sombre with old guilt.

"For what?" Asami asked genuinely confused about what Korra could need to apologise for.

"For being gone all that time, for not coming back sooner." Korra's absence had weighed heavily on her for some time, not being there for the world or her friends, not being there for Asami.

"You don't need to apologise for anything." Asami more than understood from the letter that Korra hadn't felt ready and so didn't see any reason that need forgiveness. Asami smiled for the fact that her dear Korra was with her hear and now. "I'm just so happy your here now," The pain of loss still hung on her heart as her expression turned melancholic. "I don't think I could've handled losing you and my father in the same day." The idea of this pain being doubled was a truly terrible thought.

"I am so sorry about what happened." The pained girl wiped a tear from her eye as her dear Korra leaned into to offer comfort to her dear Asami, before pulling her into a tight, warm embrace, which was welcomed and returned.

"Thank you." This small gesture from the one so close to her hearts was something that Asami treasured. "I'm just glad I was able to forgive him." The single bright spot in this tragedy was reconciliation, as much as this hurt right now, Asami didn't want to consider how much worse it would be if her father was lost with the old animosity still between them.

"So, what now? Back to the dance floor?" Korra asked, hoping that this time together wouldn't end so soon.

"I'm kind of all danced out, honestly, with everything that's happened the past few months, I could use a vacation." The idea of tossing doffing responsibility for a time and simply unwinding some was more appealing in this moment than is recent memory, for either of the young women.

"Let's do it!" The Avatar announced with vigour. "Let's go on a vacation, just the two of us, anywhere you want." The was not a single person within this world or the next that Korra would want to spend such time with; and they couldn't hang out at the penthouse, it'd been blown up.

"Really? Okay..." Korra had half expected for her dear Asami to pick Ember Island or some other exotic resort of some sort; she was pleasantly surprised. "I've always wanted to see that the spirit world's like." As the Avatar, Korra was connected to the world of spirits almost as much as she was to the world of humanity.

"Sounds perfect." Korra couldn't think of anyone else that she'd want to share that connection with, the only one was her dear Asami.

It didn't take long to pack and head for the portal, both remembered the conversation at the penthouse balcony, the words left unspoken, soon to be spoken. They walked side by side, hand in hand to the portal, stepping in they both joined their hands together and blue eyes met green in a loving gaze.

"Korra, back on at the penthouse, I was going to say-" Asami didn't get the chance to finish, as this time her dear Korra cut her off with a finger to her lips. Taking a deep breath said what had been n her heart for some time.

"I love you." Korra told her beloved Asami, the words were simple and sweet, for they needed no more for understanding, no great revelation, just the simple truth of these shared feelings.

" I love you too." Asami cried a single tear of happiness as she finally confessed to her beloved Korra what had been growing within her for years; the joy of being in love with one whom she could trust completely, and who trusted her just as much.

The truth known to both could only lead one way now. Arms, snaking around each other's bodies, eyes drifting close, leaning in; their first real kiss. Not a 'shut up and don't worry' kiss but a kiss full of passion, trust and the warmth of what they shared in their hearts. They didn't even realise the portal taking them.

Finally parting they both took in the sight. The turquoise crystal mountains, the field of mystically coloured flowers, even the gnarled bare trees added to the beauty.

"Whoa, a whole new world." Asami took in the marvelous soundings, before quickly gaining a smirk, "Quite the first date." Both of the young lovers, chuckled at the small joke.

"Whole new world," Korra began, before taking her beloved Asami's hand in hers, "Whole new romance, when we get back, a whole new Republic City, a whole new start for the Earth Kingdom... I guess in the end..."

"There are no ends..." Asami gripped her beloved Korra's hand as she continued the thought and their eyes met again, full of joy, with their hearts full of love for one another and full of hope for the future that they would meet together, side by side, hand in hand.

"Only new beginnings."

* * *

_**AN: I'm alive! After not being able to make new stories for so long I finally managed to fix the problem. This story I wrote for the finale is first thing I'm uploading, the first chapter I wrote just before the seeing finale, the second after seeing the finale. I tried to sum up my feelings as best I could; at first I was depressed that this was the end of Legend of Korra (at least for the foreseeable future) so I decided to focus on the good part of that, nothing has to end here, the fans will carry on this in a thousand different ways, and it'll be awesome.**_

_**AN2: Who else saw the official fanart from Bryan Konietzko, Korrasami turtle-duck date nights are canon!**_

_**AN3: One last thing, as someone who who's been shipping Korra/Asami since book 1 (as evidenced from the publish dates of my earlier fics) I just want to say; I freaking called it!**_


End file.
